Julian Senior, former Warner Bros European marketing and publicity executive, passed away on January 1, 2024 at the age of 85.
Senior joined Warner Bros in 1970, after an eight-year stint at MGM, as an advertising and publicity consultant in the studio’s European region office. He was soon appointed vice president of European advertising and publicity at the studio and, in 1993, was promoted to senior vice president.
The South Africa-born executive had a close working and personal relationship with Stanley Kubrick and worked with the filmmaker on the campaigns for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut.
During his career, Senior developed close working relationships with several other directors and producers including Clint Eastwood and David Puttnam.
Puttnam, with whom Senior worked on Local Hero, The Killing Fields, The Mission and Chariots Of Fire, said: “What was special about Julian is that he was a ‘friend for all seasons’ – not just supporting and celebrating success but helping to analyse and pick up the pieces following (in my case all too many) failures.”
Irish director Neil Jordan also paid tribute to the marketing and publicity veteran, who retired in 2000: “I was lucky enough to make three movies with Warner Bros when it was the best studio in the world and when Julian Senior was the best publicist in the world. The quiet aplomb with which he steered my film Michael Collins through controversy is worthy of a movie alone. He was a legend.”
Other notable campaigns that Senior oversaw during his tenure at Warner Bros include Goodfellas, JFK, Unforgiven, Lethal Weapon, The Bodyguard, Natural Born Killers and Heat.
Senior is survived by his three children and eight grandchildren.
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